The Inter Europol by PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca of Dillmann/Boulle beat those of Gar Robinson/Filipe Fraga and Steven Thomas/Scott Huffaker in Sunday’s 2-hour, 40-minute race, which featured 34 cars.
The premier-class GTP hybrids took a break from the fearsome track near Toronto, formerly known as Mosport. While those cars were not present, some of the top drivers still made the trip north of the US border to drive the LMP2s, as the WEC race at Interlagos complicated matters.
Polesitter PJ Hyett (AO Racing) led the field at the start, but he drove into the outside lane at the start, repeating the mistake he made at Watkins Glen and receiving the same penalty, a drive-through.
This handed the lead to Daniel Goldburg (United Autosports) ahead of Boulle, Robinson (Riley) and George Kurtz (Crowdstrike by APR), with Hyett rejoining in sixth. Another penalty was assessed to the #2 United Autosports car, with Ben Keating receiving a drive-through for changing tires on the grid.
Dennis Andersen, who had gone out at Turn 2 in qualifying in the #20 MDK by High Class Racing Oreca, caused the first neutralization after 20 minutes when Andersen went out again at Turn 9, sending most of the drivers to the pits.
After the restart, Boulle – who had taken the lead from Goldburg before the yellow flag – led Kurtz, Robinson, Goldburg and Thomas (TDS Racing).
A second neutralization was required 20 minutes later when Orey Fidani’s Corvette GTD hit the barriers at Turn 3, hit by the Paul Miller Racing BMW of Bryan Sellers.
Immediately after the restart, leader Boulle was held up trying to pass a late GTD car at Turn 1, then Robinson was pressured by Kurtz as cars flew in all directions at Turn 2.
Thomas moved into second place and Luis Perez Companc followed him in the AF Corse car. The big loser was Kurtz, who dropped to eighth and quickly handed over to Colin Braun, who returned to 24th in the overall standings with everything to do again.
Most of the AM drivers handed over to the pros with 90 minutes to go, with Dillmann (replacing Boulle) leading Scott Huffaker (replacing Thomas) by 3 seconds.
United duo Ben Hanley (partnering Keating and returning from his earlier penalty) and Felipe Albuquerque (partnering Goldburg) finished third and fourth, ahead of Fraga (replacing Robinson), Louis Deletraz (replacing Hyett), Pipo Derani (replacing Companc), Braun and Renger van der Zande (who had earlier been delayed by a drive-through penalty from John Farano for a pitstop infringement).
Fraga passed Deletraz for fourth when the latter went off at Turn 9, but managed to continue. The Swiss lost another position to Albuquerque before making his final stop with 45 minutes to go.
Dillmann gave everyone a scare when he hit Derani at Moss Corner in the final 20 minutes, allowing Huffaker to get closer.
Fraga, who was the last professional driver to take the lead, ran long and led until his final stop in the final 30 minutes, benefiting from a shorter fuel stop to rejoin in third. Albuquerque was fifth, while Deletraz spun after contact with Braun.
The third and final neutralization came with 16 minutes to go, when Ryan Dalziel was knocked out at The Esses. Shortly before, however, Huffaker had gone wide on the grass, giving second place to Fraga.
The race resumed with eight minutes to go, with Dillmann chased by Fraga, Huffaker, Hanley and Albuquerque, but it ended there, with van der Zande snatching sixth place from Braun and Deletraz.
#3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.R: Antonio Garcia, Alexander Sims
Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images
Corvette dominates GTD PRO
In GTD, Corvette Racing dominated the scene with Alexander Sims/Antonio Garcia taking the win over Tommy Milner/Nicky Catsburg. After the final neutralization, the two finished the race neck and neck.
Sims led from the start in his #3 Corvette Z06 GT3.R and the 1-2 was secured when the #4 car of Tommy Milner passed the #14 Lexus of Jack Hawksworth (Vasser Sullivan) on the outside of The Esses at the end of the first lap.
In the second hour, Harry Tincknell had moved into the Corvette ranks in his #64 Ford Mustang-Multimatic, but then dropped to fourth in the final standings in the hands of Mike Rockenfeller, while Seb Priulx/Laurin Heinrich took third in the AO Racing Porsche 911.
The #14 Lexus surprisingly retired with a technical problem in the closing stages.
The Turner Motorsports BMW M4 of Robby Foley/Patrick Gallagher and the Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage of Roman De Angelis/Spencer Pumpelly were dueling for the GTD class lead when Gallacher spun at Moss Corner, dropping him to fourth.
This gave victory to Aston and second place to the #57 Mercedes-Winward of Russell Ward/Philip Ellis, with third going to the McLaren 720S of Brendon Iribe and Frederik Schandorff (Inception Racing).
#IMSA #CTMP #DillmannBoulle #win #Corvette #dominates #GTD
